Mission Semi-Impossible: Day One

Words: 1743
Feelings: Boredom, Nausea, A Sense that Something Cool is Happening Somewhere on the Internet and I'm Missing It
Sins: Gluttony, Sloth
Fears: Three pages don't make any sense, might have changed one of main character's last names mid-way through book without realizing, don't understand why one character is always clapping in every scene he's in. Sense that I don't really know what i'm writing about.

Thoughts: Do you know how many words 2000 is? Apparently I don't. Tried to break up the day into 4 sessions of 500 words. Made perfect sense. First two went pretty quickly. A few pages of dialogue? No problem. I am a dialogue writer. I kill dialogue. But then just as the dialogue was being slayed, the well went dry. Not my dad's well at his house, because, as he informed me, "we don't have a well, we get our water from the Colorado River like the rest of SoCal". (editor's note: he didn't actually say SoCal. but don't you wish he did?) So not an actual well. The writing well. Oh wait, I think that's a pun. And i wasn't even going for one. Lesson: you can't turn off genius.

Need a change of venue. Go outside. The air outside is choice. Keep telling myself, You are a writer. You write things. You write well. Keep thinking: this is a pretty place for a writer to write. Think about that for thirty minutes in the choice SoCal air. Don't write much.

My dad bought a case of Arrowhead mountain spring waters. Allegedly, Arrowhead has been making water since 1894. I smell bullshit, but can't think of a way to fact check it sitting outside. Despite their lies, I take down 16 of them. And pee < 11 times. At least my (um, kidneys? small intestine (s)? bladder?) is working. Quit writing, go inside and read Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. It's a first novel about work. It's good. And funny. Not exactly helping my confidence.

Try to write post-dinner. Doesn't work out. Shouldn't drink two Italian beers at dinner. Or ever. Fall asleep with computer on my lap, in the middle of a particularly intense scene, 250 words from my goal.

Question to Ponder: Does imagining Amy Smart's character in the movie Varsity Blues every time I write dialogue for a girl help or hurt my book?

Either way, need to step it up.

Breathe....Just Breathe,

Anna,
Nalick

PS- Pictured Below: The Wishing Well my father doesn't have.